2012-2013 year in review...

Hanging at the park with Aidan and Isabella...

Dancing with Grandma while getting ready for Aunt Ebony's baby shower...

Easter Egg Hunt 2013

Wow!  The 2012-2013 school year is really moving!  I can't believe that I haven't updated this blog since September!  My goal for this blog is to save memories for Nya and to provide a place for her grandparents to watch her grow.  I will do better!!!

This morning we woke up early to pick up Kwesi's jeep.  It was a pretty long ride but Nya was a trooper.  She knew that we would be attending an Easter egg hunt at Bowie Town Center and she didn't want to lose that privilege.  She had a great time hunting for eggs.  She was a bit overwhelmed by the speed of the other kids, but she did manage to get a few.  Two little girls were nice enough to share with her when they saw that they had so much more than Nya.  How sweet!

 

A Great September Weekend!

We are glad to be back into the swing of things around here.  I am feeling much more relaxed about the start of the school year than I have felt in a long time.  Nya has been adjusting to her new Pre-K class pretty well.  Still working on listening...her teacher has informed us that Nya is now trying to avoid doing what she needs to do by untying her shoes...the teacher in me knows that we need to get this under control by Kindergarten.

Well, we have had a great weekend.  Nya was excited as usual for her sister to come visit with us.  Daddy took the girls go-kart riding on Friday.  Now all that I am hearing from Nya is that we are "Team Go-Karts"! 

Kwesi has a real obsession with the fairs and it's that time of year.  I have been trying so hard to avoid them but we stopped by the Prince George's fair on Saturday.  None of us were impressed (Kwesi included) except for Nya.  She enjoyed the rides and games.  I don't think that we will be back to that one next year.

I am trying to make it a priority to get Nya into DC more often.  I really want to visit more of the museums and monuments.  So today Nya and I made it to the Museum of Natural History.  It is one of my favorites.  Nya really enjoyed herself and the trip exhausted her!




Waiting on the Metro

 

Nya watched this video about anteaters at least 5 times...but she learned a lot of information!

1st Day of Pre-K 2012

So school started again on 8/27/12 for Nya and my students.  Nya was much more excited about wearing her uniform this year.  Also, she was really excited about wearing her new Chucks instead of the plain Stride Rites from last year (maybe because Daddy had a matching pair of Chucks).  Her school, Mount Jezreel Baptist Church School, has new teachers in Pre-K and Kindergarten.  Nya's teacher is new to the school.  At first Nya was devastated that she would no longer have Ms. McRoy again.  However, she seems to be adjusting well.  The new glasses seem to be working out well too!

Pretending to feel sad about the first day...

The classroom terrarium

Back to the Grind...

So I can't believe that summer is just about over.  Back to work on Monday and the kids come back the following week!  This summer has flown by!  We are ready to get back into a routine and I will be glad to get a real paycheck!  Kwesi and I keep saying that we really cannot believe that we only went to the beach once this summer!  We normally make beach visits a priority.  Hopefully we can make more visits next summer. 

I taught summer school again this year, but it was so short!  It only lasted a little over three weeks due to widespread power outages as a result of the big storms we had before the Fourth.  Luckily we never lost power but had some down branches and a small tree fall in the backyard.  While I taught summer school, Nya attended camp at her school.  It was great for her to have a chance to spend some time with her friends. 

Other summer experiences included several birthday parties, celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary, visiting my parents in Pittsburgh, checking out the new casino at Arundel Mills, lots of grilling out, visiting LA Fitness alot, sleeping in, playing in the backyard, visiting the park on the non-heat wave days, and just enjoying a simple summer. 

We are looking forward to cooler temps in the fall, apple picking, and our first cruise in October!

Raspberry Picking!

We have been talking about going back to Larriland Farm and we took the time to go today.  They had a nice selection of raspberries for us to pick from!  It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze, too!  Nya was spent after about an hour but we came away with over 3.5 pounds of raspberries!

Inspecting the raspberries

Some of our stash

Keeping Nya Busy

I am trying to make sure that Nya is busy and enjoying each day of summer.  Before we know it, summer school will be starting for me and Nya will be going to camp.  We are thrilled to have a park that we can walk to right in our neighborhood.  There are usually alot of kids there for Nya to play with, but lately it has been too hot for a large turnout.

Over the weekend we attended a birthday party for Kwesi's Aunt Lo.  It was a nice time with the family!

Cousin Jordan and Nya